Keep government away from health care - it's best that way

I would like to thank Congressman Jim McGovern for his recent visit to our local communities. There was a great deal of discussion on many issues. One issue in particular caught my interest: health care.

He mentioned that universal health care would be a far better option than what we have today. If that be the case, then why do people from around the world come here rather than having their health issues dealt with in their own countries? Yet, he and others in Congress wish to emulate those programs. You all want the government to take over the health care system.

Why is the cost of health care rising? Doctors and hospitals need to administer tests so as to protect themselves against suits by attorneys, which increases their professional liability costs. They also need to have additional employees on the payroll just to complete federal forms for Medicare and Medicaid. This is due to federal involvement now. How does bureaucracy solve a problem? It doesn't. It only creates more of one.

Do you want a bureaucrat making your health care decision? Of course, you don't. You don't have to. You have the best health care in the world. Yet, you wish to have the American people's health care system subjugated to bureaucratic rule. Tell me, please, which government program works better than the private sector? The post office? I think not. Social Security? Again, no. Bureaucracies are leviathans that move at a glacial pace, and produce nothing at a HUGE cost. Why have one more yoke on the economy's neck?

If we get government out of the way we reduce obstacles that thwart progress. Costs would decrease. Let the free market rule. When one has competition, markets thrive and seek out customers. The end result is that costs decrease.

So, please Mr. McGovern, don't place that health care yoke around our neck only to be faced with fewer choices in the future. I don't want to be one of those people who have a bureaucrat telling me whether I may have a procedure or not based on my age or health. That is what happens in other countries. The government is not the answer. It is the problem. Get out of the way. We don't want the government competing with the private sector for health care. Then there is no competition at all. Michele DeForestPrinceton